Pictures/Weights/Prices of a Powersupply (to break down or not)

**kss** · 01-25-2020, 09:28 AM

I have.... quite a few of these, and already broke down about half of them. But it took a while and was becoming tedious so I decided to do a break down and calculate out if its worth it to continue to do these with what I feel is an "average" power supply.

So here are some combinations/options and what they yeild, per power supply.

Total weight before disassembling: 2lb1.7oz
wires (snipped off without disassembly): 0lb4.8oz
misc steel/shred: 0lb14.5oz
wires from inside, snipped after disasembly: 0lb0.7oz
lowgrade board after removing stuff: 0lb5.9oz
alum heatsink: 0lb2.6oz
transformers: 0lb4.6oz

Options:

Sell complete w/wire (would need to be online as do not have a local ps buyer)
- Whole psu: $0.24/lb == $0.5055 (less shipping cost)
Snip wire, Sell as wire local + ps w/o wire online
- PSU, snipped wires == $0.18/lb * 1.80625lb == $0.325
- Wires == $0.40/lb * 0.3lb == $0.12
- Total: $0.445
Snip wire, sell whole rest of PSU local as shred to avoid shipping and disassembly
- Wires == $0.40/lb * 0.3lb == $0.12
- PSU, snipped wires == $0.04/lb * 1.80625lb == $0.07225
- Total: $0.19225
Fully disassemble, sell all local at local prices
- Wires == $0.40/lb * (0.3lb + 0.04375lb) == $0.15
- misc steel == $0.04 * 0.90625lb = $0.03625
- low-grade board == $0.05 * 1.36875lb == $0.0684375
- alum heatsink == $0.21 * 0.1625lb == $0.032125
- transformer == $0.08 * 0.2875lb == $0.023
- Total: $0.3098125 == $0.31

So, in summary,
I could get $0.51/unit mailing them off and not disassembling/touching them at all, but have to subtract out shipping.
I could snip the cords, and sell the PSU online to someone here, for $0.45/unit, but again, still have to pay shipping for those.
I could snip the wires, and throw the PSU as is in the shred pile, avoiding all shipping, for $0.19/unit
I could do what I have been doing, fully taking apart and selling all bits locally to yards, for $0.31/unit, avoiding all shipping, but takes forever.

Not really sure that makes it any clearer what the best option is.... but.... that the info I have now.

Edit: img link https://imgur.com/a/MwBa5p5

**JJinLV** · 01-25-2020, 10:55 AM

Save up enough ewaste to send a pallet or two. There's buyers close enough to you that with a full pallet you'll likely be paying less than .10/lb freight cost

**jimicrk** · 01-25-2020, 11:53 AM

First of all I no longer let power supplies or hard drives pile up. I learned my lesson there. When I get a load of electronics I break it all down and look at what I made on the whole load. I'm never disappointed.

**kss** · 01-25-2020, 06:20 PM

Originally Posted by jimicrk

First of all I no longer let power supplies or hard drives pile up. I learned my lesson there. When I get a load of electronics I break it all down and look at what I made on the whole load. I'm never disappointed.

I dont want to let it pile up, but it doesnt make sense to ship at the rate that I accumulate them. Id be sitting on them a while and they would be taking up a chunk of my space before I had enough for a pallet. I think I will continue just taking them apart so I can get rid of everything locally quickly.

**kss** · 01-25-2020, 06:23 PM

Originally Posted by JJinLV

Save up enough ewaste to send a pallet or two. There's buyers close enough to you that with a full pallet you'll likely be paying less than .10/lb freight cost

I am saving up to send a pallet soon. Already have a few hundred lbs of motherboards (server, desktop, laptop, etc), finger cards, and other stuff that I dont have any local buyers for. But since the diff between the price is not a lot from what I can get local vs keeping them a while and pallet shipping them, id rather take the small loss on the PSUs and have more room to save up the good stuff (motherboards, ram, finger cards, etc). I am working out of a single car garage only so having the space is valuable to me.

I was really just calculating out of curiosity and figured I'd share since I already wrote everything down

**in2scrap** · 01-25-2020, 09:21 PM

Either way ya go it's kinda demoralizing....

**hills** · 01-25-2020, 09:29 PM

Time is money.

It might be a good idea to keep track of the time invested with disassembly. Maybe figure out what you are making per hour ?

**JJinLV** · 01-25-2020, 09:58 PM

Originally Posted by kss

I am saving up to send a pallet soon. Already have a few hundred lbs of motherboards (server, desktop, laptop, etc), finger cards, and other stuff that I dont have any local buyers for. But since the diff between the price is not a lot from what I can get local vs keeping them a while and pallet shipping them, id rather take the small loss on the PSUs and have more room to save up the good stuff (motherboards, ram, finger cards, etc). I am working out of a single car garage only so having the space is valuable to me.

I was really just calculating out of curiosity and figured I'd share since I already wrote everything down

You can stack a pallet eight feet tall. Any amount of any kind of circuit board under 500lbs likely will be less than 4ft tall. If you're already saving up to send a pallet, why not fill the pallet sooner with stuff that will make you more money by shipping it including your low grade and power boards and power supplies?

**eesakiwi** · 01-26-2020, 08:44 AM

/\ like make a brick wall around the outside of the pallet with power supplys, with the escrap inside it, covered in sheet cardboard wrapped in that Saranwrap stuff?
I actually think that that would work.

I have to scrap my power supplys down, i have no choice but do that. I do save up the power transistors & have a 5 gallon bucket full now.
Theres Copper in those guys. Not a lot, but a bucket full is a bucket full.

After edit, its a 30-40 litre bucket, say 7-8 gallons and 33 Kgs. Thats 73 Lbs of transistors.

**kss** · 01-26-2020, 05:37 PM

Originally Posted by JJinLV

You can stack a pallet eight feet tall. Any amount of any kind of circuit board under 500lbs likely will be less than 4ft tall. If you're already saving up to send a pallet, why not fill the pallet sooner with stuff that will make you more money by shipping it including your low grade and power boards and power supplies?

Not a bad point actually.... Could save it and use it to fluff or round off a pallet quicker than otherwise. Interesting. Also after a bunch of googling I think I found a place, that is 2hrs away, but that takes all e-waste, including power supplies. Ill have to call to get prices, but if they are where I think they might be, it might make more sense to do a trip on a weekend in my truck rather than a pallet all together. Even if it takes a full tank of gas, thats only like $40 (plus 4 hours of my time, but no big deal).

**matador** · 01-26-2020, 07:44 PM

I'd like to see an 8 foot tall pallet in the back of your Tacoma- that would look really odd.

I have about half of a gaylord of PSUs. I'm sending some stuff to Denver, but I doubt it'll be worth sending the PSUs right now. Depending on how the balance of what I do between E-Waste and MTSV stuff goes, I may just end up hauling a load down to Denver myself and throwing in a couple gaylords of PSUs to pick up a little extra cash.

PSU's haunt me almost as much as cases do. I swear, you have to have a Kenworth to just get enough weight on those to cover your gas to get rid of them out here

**kss** · 01-26-2020, 07:53 PM

Originally Posted by matador

I'd like to see an 8 foot tall pallet in the back of your Tacoma- that would look really odd.

I have about half of a gaylord of PSUs. I'm sending some stuff to Denver, but I doubt it'll be worth sending the PSUs right now. Depending on how the balance of what I do between E-Waste and MTSV stuff goes, I may just end up hauling a load down to Denver myself and throwing in a couple gaylords of PSUs to pick up a little extra cash.

PSU's haunt me almost as much as cases do. I swear, you have to have a Kenworth to just get enough weight on those to cover your gas to get rid of them out here

Im lucky, I have 2 yards within 10 mins of me, getting rid of cases is easy, I just throw them along with any other light iron loads I have. So cases I don't mind at all... they stack well, can hold some other stuff inside them, and weigh a good bit. Thats always my first step when I get a load of PCs... strip down to the bare case, then take all the cases (along with whatever else is in my shred pile at the time) to the yard, just to get rid of it, and usually get like $20-40 (which for driving 5miles, and about 10 mins is not too bad at all). So those, I got a plan for. The PSUs I just struggle with indecision of what to do with them, but either way come out making money on them, just may not always be optimal/max profit. No big deal though!

**kss** · 01-26-2020, 08:19 PM

Originally Posted by hills

Time is money.

It might be a good idea to keep track of the time invested with disassembly. Maybe figure out what you are making per hour ?

If I calculated out what I am making per hour I think it would be less than minimum wage lol. Same as MOST of my scrapping endeavors.... This is more of a hobby for me. I just like taking things apart and keeping things out of the dump.

I think I have settled on clipping the cords, and selling cords local, And then keeping the PSUs, with no cords (because the stack nicer and are easier to handle/box/store that way), and taking them up to a place about 2 hrs away with my other stuff.

**matador** · 01-26-2020, 08:23 PM

It's nice when you have a close yard. The closest one out here is about 50 miles away, so I need to fill the cage on my Dodge and take a trailer to get enough out of it for fuel and lunch. I try to take a load when I need to pick up from my collection bins in town though- kill two birds with one stone. It's probably worth more in Billings, but I can't imagine it penciling out to drive cases that way unless I have other stuff to do up there.

I have a pallet next week to ship out of Billings, and I need to meet with one of my clients up there too. So, maybe I'll throw some cases on the back of one of my trucks. Who knows.... maybe I can afford a hamburger with them

**JJinLV** · 02-01-2020, 02:52 AM

Originally Posted by matador

I'd like to see an 8 foot tall pallet in the back of your Tacoma- that would look really odd.

I have about half of a gaylord of PSUs. I'm sending some stuff to Denver, but I doubt it'll be worth sending the PSUs right now. Depending on how the balance of what I do between E-Waste and MTSV stuff goes, I may just end up hauling a load down to Denver myself and throwing in a couple gaylords of PSUs to pick up a little extra cash.

PSU's haunt me almost as much as cases do. I swear, you have to have a Kenworth to just get enough weight on those to cover your gas to get rid of them out here

Will two 7 foot pallets in the back of a Dodge do? https://www.scrapmetalforum.com/day-...a-freight.html

**kss** · 02-01-2020, 02:25 PM

Originally Posted by JJinLV

Will two 7 foot pallets in the back of a Dodge do? https://www.scrapmetalforum.com/day-...a-freight.html

That'll do! Looks awesome. I think I am coming up on having enough for a pallet soon. I have about.... 20 big plastic tubs filled with various different stuff related to e-waste. Not sure the weight, but it seems like a lot scattered all across my garage floor in bins.....

**SKWrapper** · 02-01-2020, 03:26 PM

Originally Posted by matador

I have about half of a gaylord of PSUs. I'm sending some stuff to Denver, but I doubt it'll be worth sending the PSUs right now.

Who buys PSU's in Denver - besides scrapyards?

**hills** · 02-01-2020, 05:19 PM

Originally Posted by kss

If I calculated out what I am making per hour I think it would be less than minimum wage lol. Same as MOST of my scrapping endeavors.... This is more of a hobby for me. I just like taking things apart and keeping things out of the dump.

It's the same here. Just a hobby. Okay ... well ... maybe it's become an addiction.

BlackGold is a trouble maker ! He got me interested in generators with his Lister Petter thread. It's all his fault ! Now i've got a new obsession. Gosh Dang it.

Latest haul in was a 15 KW home standby generator. That thing is a beast w/ a 30 HP propane driven motor. The motor is shot but it will be fun to take apart. There's a lot of steel in one of those along with ali & copper.

You might keep an ear to the rail. There seem to be quite a few coming available as scrap lately.

**mthomasdev** · 02-01-2020, 09:19 PM

Just bought 1036 pounds of them today. Wires were already snipped on the desktop ones. A lot of server power supplies. They will get boxed up tommorow and hopefully sent out soon. I already have 2 full 40x48 Gaylord's that are probably 40 tall.

**mikeinreco** · 02-02-2020, 09:41 AM

Out of curiosity what did u pay

Pictures/Weights/Prices of a Powersupply (to break down or not)

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